With ESPN bringing its College GameDay roadshow to Athens for the first time in a decade and Georgia preparing for its toughest opponent yet -- eighth-ranked Alabama -- the Bulldogs hope to recreate some of last season's black magic.

Georgia coach Mark Richt announced during his Sunday teleconference that the Bulldogs will wear the black jerseys they donned for two of their most memorable victories of 2007 -- a 45-20 win over Auburn and a 41-10 rout of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl -- when they take the field this weekend.

Richt again called on fans to wear black to the 7:45 p.m. game Saturday at Sanford Stadium in an effort to build the excitement that surrounded last year's "blackout" against Auburn, when the Bulldogs wore black for the first time in program history.

"I thought it was an outstanding success as far as the fans buying in to the request of the seniors last year and the fans just having a ball with it, (and) I would think they would get excited about the blackout," Richt said. "Matter of fact, every Bulldog Club I went to, it seemed like they were asking when it was gonna be, and writing letters saying what ballgame it should be."

College GameDay, ESPN's ultra-popular Saturday-morning show featuring Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso, hasn't visited Athens since Georgia's 1998 game against Tennessee, sports information director Claude Felton said.

The program aired from atop Georgia's Tate Student Center that day. Because of its significantly larger space requirements for a set and equipment, the Tate Center's roof wouldn't support the GameDay production now, Felton said.

He said a final decision on where GameDay will set up will either be made today or Wednesday.

The show typically airs from a location with a view of the stadium behind the set, but that will be nearly impossible because of Sanford Stadium's location on campus. Further complicating matters is the construction project under way at the Tate Center.

"With the stadium right in the middle of campus, we're kind of limited as to where they can set up, but we'll have a few options," Felton said.

Richt said some of Georgia's seniors, spurred by the possibility of GameDay's return to Athens, approached him after Saturday's win to propose another blackout.

He had been hesitant to trot out his team in black this early in the season because of concerns over wearing the color on a sweltering September afternoon. But since the game won't kick off until the evening -- and because ESPN is sending its flagship college football program to town for the first time since Richt has been Georgia's coach -- he decided to allow it.

"(Before the season), I was just saying that I didn't want to do it in September, again because of the weather," he said. "The possibility of a hot day and then being a 3:30 kickoff or even earlier, so I said let's not really think about (a blackout against Alabama).

"But then as everything transpired the way it did -- we got a night game, they found out there's a very good chance the GameDay crew was coming, they just thought it was the time to do it. And I'm fine with it. Whatever those guys want on that deal is fine with me."

Reach David Ching at david.ching@onlineathens.com.